major reference

In terms of furthering the actor’s technique, the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski, together with Stanislavsky and Brecht, were the key figures of the 20th century. Grotowski first became internationally known when his Laboratory Theatre, established in Opole, Pol., in 1959, triumphantly toured Europe and the United States during the mid-1960s. His influence was further enhanced by the...

work of Grotowski

...work with the Polish Laboratory Theatre that most stimulated and excited theatre professionals, though not all were in sympathy with the stripped-away concept of staging that he called “
poor theatre.” He rejected the idea that theatre should attempt to match the spectacle and effects of film and television and declared that the primary element of theatre is the relationship...

Grotowski’s form of theatre is often called
poor theatre on account of the simple circumstances in which it takes place. This characteristic recalls Copeau’s idea of “the greatest possible effect from the least possible means.” The internationalism of the theatre is now such that groups modeled on Grotowski’s have appeared throughout the world. Eugenio Barba, of Odin Theater in...